EXPANSION OF BRICS (Syllabus: GS Paper 2 – IR)

Context: Recently, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates confirmed their participation in the BRICS bloc after being invited last year, announced South Africa's Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor.

BRICS

• About: It is a grouping of the world’s leading emerging economies, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.
• Origin: The term was originally coined in 2001 as "BRIC" by the Goldman Sachs economist Jim O'Neill in his report, Building Better Global Economic BRICs.

oForeign ministers of these countries began meeting informally in 2006, which led to more formal annual summits beginning in 2009.

oIn 2010, South Africa joined the informal group and changed the acronym to BRICS.

• First BRIC Summit: Held in Yekaterinburg, Russia, in June 2009.
• Economic Significance: It contribute to around 23% of the global GDP and around 18% of Global Trade.
• Demography: It represents around 41% of global Population.
• Territory: It comprise 30% of the world’s territory.
• Chairmanship:  On rotation basis among members in order of B-R-I-C-S.